This wedding gift ultimately destroys her. It is wrapped up in Moorish mysticism and deep meaning for her husband. She adores it and keeps it with her at all times. The issue of the handkerchief and its ownership easily becomes one of the most crucial plot points of the play. Although the actual occurrences are only mentioned in the play, an Egyptian first gave the handkerchief to Othello's mother, and she then gave it to her son upon her deathbed to give to his future wife. "She told her, while she kept it would make her amiable and subdue my father Entirely to her love, but if she lost it Or made a gift of it, my father's eye Should hold her loathed, and his spirits should hunt After new fancies". Little does Desdemona realize the true meaning of the handkerchief. As long as his mother had the handkerchief, his father would remain happy. The parallel to her life becomes self-evident unfortunately for her too little too late. When the handkerchief disappears so does Othello's trust in her. When Othello and Desdemona marry, he gives it to her. In this instance, the handkerchief symbolizes the love a wife holds for her husband and how to lose it or give it away would symbolize to him loss of love it somehow is transformed into the marital bond. Here we can seriously characterize Desdemona as the tragic character. How could her husband be so simple minded as to put so much faith in a piece of cloth? How could he distrust her so easily and trust Iago so completely. Sure camaraderie between fellow soldiers is to be expected, but over your mate? Othello makes a crucial mistake. When Desdemona loses the handkerchief Emilia finds it and steals it away. The implication is that the doomed Desdemona has also lost her husband's love. Emilia then gives the handkerchief to her husband Iago, who has expressed a great interest in the unusual item. To Iago, the handkerchief is the realization of all his furtive plotting--the final piece ...
